Always found it a bit strange that the true story of Joe C's killing at the rally has never been established. Or who shot dead Jerome Johnson? surely, there was photographers snapping away. I mean the main man is there, how did Johnsons killer evade getting photographed.

Currently reading the carlo gambino book (1st pub.1973) and some gambino porn guy named Umbers was associated with Johnson.

Joe Gallo is the usual suspect for being behind it. He was ,allegedly, meant to be a enemy of Joe Colombo.

Where did a ' bum' like Johnson get a movie camera ( I assume v expensive 1971)?

Who Set J Colombo up?? single choice
	lone gunman, himself
	crazy joe gallo
	carlo gambino/ other bosses
	internal 'colombo ' faction
Votes accepted starting: 09/22/22 04:28 PM
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None of the above!

Where is the choice for LE combo of FBI and Police? I say Scrpa helped FBI and the NYPD may have been in on it. So no choice given is correct.

I’m going to have to think about this over a few drinks tonight; Only 15 mins from leaving.

It could be a combination of things….

Some internal… other bosses; etc…

Im curious to what your opinion is NYM

There's a lot of people here who subscribe to the theory put forth by Colombo's son Anthony Colombo and his shill co-author Don Capria, who had zero writing credits to his name previously, never graduated college and failed as a rock band promoter. They claim the FBI and N.Y.P.D. conspired to murder Colombo because he was becoming too powerful as head of the I.A.C.R.L. and was a threat as a "model" Italian American.
However, if you follow the facts it becomes clearly apparent that Jerome Johnson was involved in the Gambino NYC porn operation as a cameraman and the underage sex trafficking in the West Village and the Stonewall Inn, with connections to Gambino Associates Mike Umbers and Ed "The Skull" Murphy , both of whom were connected to Gambino Soldier Mike DiBella. Further, Johnson's last known residence was a storefront on Elizabeth St in Little Italy connected to DiBella, where checks made out to Johnson were found from a business front linked to porn broker Joe "Bikini" Brochinni. The man suspected of killing Johnson, Colombo bodyguard Phillip Rossillo who allied with the dominant Carmine Persico faction after Colombo's death.

Funny I just completed a video about the Colombo shooting that I shot at the original Columbus Circle location, will share with you when it's uploaded.

Running theories I've heard:

#1. Joe Gallo.

Why it's possible: He was at odds with Colombo and recruited black people to work with him.


Problem with this theory: There is no evidence connecting Jerome Johnson to Gallo, Gallo would be a marked man for killing a boss.

#2. Carlo Gambino.

Why it's possible? He despised Colombo being in the spotlight and drawing attention to LCN. So not only did he plan the hit, he hired a black shooter to frame Gallo.

Poblem with this theory? What could possibly bring more attention to LCN than having a boss killed in a media covered event in front of thousands of people?

#3. Gallo and Gambino conspired together.

Why it's possible? They both wanted Colombo gone and Gallo had the connections to put a random black guy up to the job.

Problem with this theory? A few, including the problem I just mentioned in #2 and the thought of Gambino conspiring with a thug like Gallo.

#4. Jerome Johnson was a lone gunman (the weakest of all theories). What would some random 25 year old black man from New Jersey want to kill a crime boss in New York for?

Anthony Abbatemarco.

Total BS, which a nutcase who had a website used to put up, Capria wrote a great book, and unlike your tall tale, others claimed many years ago that it was the FBI including Michael Franzese. Do you seriously think that the Mafia hired a porno cameraman who was not a killer to do this? I guess you are into all those gay bar--mafia conspiracy theories.

Scapa worked with the FBI (Anyone want to dispute that?) Scarpa was there, so was the FBI. Johnson was given fake media credentials, and had a woman with him who was allowed by both the FBI and police to escape (Anyone want to dispute that?)
A man with no killing experience was given press credentials, he got close to Columbo with his companion, then after shooting Columbo was shot dead, yet not a single FBI or Detective there saw who did it!! Yeah, sure. Columbo's own son even said it was not the Mafia before he passed away.

Colombo wasn't shot dead, he survived for 7 years.

He spit in the boss of BOSSES FACE

Anyone foolish enough to do that will find themselves waking up dead shortly thereafter.

Obviously Johnson was a pawn and was probably paid a couple of hundred dollars adjusted for inflation in todays dollars probably equivalent to $10K

Sounds familiar the gang member who was the Zottola shooter was supposed to be paid either $10K each or $10K total to carry out the hits.

You can see why Johnson was killed
Dead men tell no tales or he would have been on the witness stand.

Turnbull, this member just made this thread personal with his comment. " I guess you are into all those gay bar--mafia conspiracy theories. " it's not the first time he's provoked me and other members with inflammatory comments. You can't hold me accountable when I flame his him in front of the entire community, ok. He has repeatedly made incendiary comments and hides behind keyboard like a girl. He does this when I make comments about the DeMeo Crew and then passively/aggressively becomes amicable and agreeable, he needs to back up and leave me alone or I will flame every fricking comment he makes again.Word to my Mother

Organized crime, the Italian mob, had absolutely, positively, nothing to do with the attempted assassination of Joe Colombo that fateful day in Manhattan's Columbus Circle. Nothing! Nada! Zero!

Did they hate him? Did they want him dead? Would they have killed him if they had the chance to? Definitely! But that doesn't mean they did it, or had a hand in it in any way, shape, or form.

That is a fiction created by the media, local law enforcement, the FBI, the U.S. Justice Department, certain uninformed segments of the mob itself, and the general public who were (and still are) clueless to what happened that day.

And the follow up killing of Crazy Joe Gallo at Umberto's Clam House that next year was more of the same. A "still confused" mob, still reeling from Colombo's shooting, and still assuming Gallo was behind that shooting, sent in a hit team to finish off Gallo, who had been a "thorn in their side" for many years to begin with, regardless of his "assumed" involvement in the Colombo incident.

I'm not going to go into the semantics and particulars of Joe Colombo's shootings. But for those of you interested in learning the what really happened, against the backdrop, tempo, and atmosphere back in the early 1970s, I wrote a pretty extensive biography about Joe Colombo's life, career, and the causes for his shooting where I debunk lots of these myths, which is available on the ButtonGuys of The New York Mafia website.

PS: The more knowledgeable wiseguys within the mob itself damn well "knew" they had nothing to do with the shooting, and after the smoke cleared came to realize WHO was behind the attempted assassination. Bosses, skippers, and key wiseguys understood or were told in "whispered confidence" where things stood...No more need one said!

NYM, with all due respect. You're knowledgeable in many areas but this is a debate, and your word isn't good enough in this case. You want to undermine the investigation by Albert Seedman and the NYPD with no credible, factual evidence other than referring to your website, I'm not going to sign up just to discuss this thread. If you have credible factual evidence to support your position, you should post it here, now.

I appreciate your response and viewpoint CNote, but with all due respect to you everything you posted up as the "reasoning" linking Gallo to the shooting is all fluff and nonsense that was put out there by different sources to either try and make a square peg fit into a round hole, or put out there to the media "on purpose" to further "muddy the waters" and divert possible suspicion away from the real culprits. And THATS a fact!

Every single "line" of so-called piece of "circumstantial evidence" leading back to Gallo as the orchestrator becomes threadbare once you truly look at it from an informed standpoint. Lots of little "nothings" that really lead to nowhere, that at the time those innocent persons in law enforcement were truly trying to solve the case gathered up in an attempt to try and make sense of this crime.

It's all bullshit! ALL OF IT!

I'm going to leave you with one thought (if you can wrap your head around it)....just remember the "Grassy Knoll" theory? It may be difficult for many laypeople to grasp that this could happen in America. But if thats your line of thinking...then you'd better think again my friend!

I am telling you right here and now, that top wiseguys later clearly understood who was behind the Colombo shooting. (And it wasn't Gallo or ANY other wiseguy for that matter).

Will we ever know for sure? Of course not! Thats like trying to solve and say who really was behind the killing of JFK, RFK, MLK, etc.

NYM, we've had this this discussion before and to this date you haven't put one iota of information to support your attempt to undermine the facts from the NYPD investigation led by Chief Albert Seedman, who was a good cop. Your opinion, which is all you have without facts to support it, carries no weight in this forum. You expect members to take your word for it, sorry debate doesn't work that way. As far as the grassy knoll theory, anyone who knows about the Kennedy Assassination is familiar with Howard Donhue theory which is the most probable based on the facts.

First off, I'm not saying that Albert Seedman was not a "good cop" as you say, or that he was complicit in any underhanded activity. To the contrary, I suspect that he and many other NYPD officials may have also been led down the primrose path.

And number two, I'm not trying to convince you of anything. I'm just stating what I believe to be the truth regarding the Colombo incident. Obviously you are free to come to your own conclusions about what really happened (and it seems to me that you already have). The last time I checked America was a free country. We are all free to decide for ourselves.

Correct, but a bit technical. He was there to shoot him dead, and was responsible for his eventual death by shooting him.

Seedman was not a good cop, he was s sadist and got in any controversies. H once almost ruined a mureder case by forcing a suspect to show his face to the media by grabbing his head and (The suspect was covering his face) and holding it up by grabbing the guy's hair. Seedman stood there gloating. Luckily his dump stunt did not get the guy off on a civil rights violation, which it almost did.

Check out this video Ice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsCB7bPEeFk

Folks, this is a very interesting thread, with a lot of erudite comments. But, it's beginning to get uncivil. Please, let's keep it going without personal comments or flaming.

. You’re a well respected member CNote. Best just to ignore garbage comments like that. As for the topic at hand I think you make some interesting points. I also agree with NYMafia that we will probably never get a definitive answer

I’m going to weigh in;

I believe Carmine Persico was involved (directly/and indirectly if that makes sense) Most people never include him in the Joe Colombo hit because (Persico and Colombo were friends) but think about it;

Carmine Persico had a lot to gain after Colombo’s death. He became boss and had some support from other bosses; some of the family and his crew… He was able to install Tom DiBella as a front…; etc…

I honestly think this was a internal and commission approved hit. (Mostly Carlo Gambino scheming)

Persico was involved in some way with this hit….

I don’t know why people never mention this much.

What’s everyone thought?

CNOTE- your posts are greatly appreciated.

FYI… There is a certain female poster on here that provoked me a couple of times.
I usually do not engage however, a couple of times I felt I had to set the record straight.

My advice is to BLOCK HER, that is what I did you will no longer see any of her posts.
Basically our way to BAN a poster.

Definitely an interesting take, a a real possibility if you ask Me. because Carlo would not take out Columbo until he had his own man taking over in my opinion, someone who was in his corner.
He would not ok a hit on a Boss without knowing and approving who was going to take over, and he sure wasn't going to support Joe Gallo, in my opinion.
I don't know if you are right Z, but its a good theory that is a legit possibility in my eyes.

So much for not stirring things up, I will respond: JCrusher, all you do is wait for me to have any type of disagreement, even peceful ones, to weigh in with your crap. So your opinion here is fake and worthless.

JCrusher and Bensonhurst are not listening, I am not going to sit by if they keep it up.

How about we ban you instead?